Something For You American Idol Fans

I'll admit it: I'm a fan of FOX's nationally-televised karaoke contest. I like it for many of the same reasons I love baseball; it's an exciting competition that also lends itself to analysis. You can make predictions about who'll go home the next night by studying past trends about song choices, performance order, previous trips to the Bottom 3, judges' comments, etc. There's even an entire website dedicated to studying these trends. I highly recommend it to all fans of the show.

So you're probably wondering how I could possibly find something that's related to both baseball and American Idol. Well, it's a stretch. Hey, there's a reason I call my blog a "junk drawer." If you watched Season 6 of Idol you know that the winner was a girl named Jordin Sparks, who's currently enjoying a pretty good career as a pop star (no, it wasn't that kid with the hair). Sparks was born on December 22, 1989, and before you say anything, the only reason I know her birthdate is because I know she's exactly ten years to the day younger than a high school friend of mine. Come on, give me some credit.

Anyway, while I was compiling my World Series winner profile for the 1928 Yankees I found that they had a player named Archie Campbell. His date of death? December 22, 1989. His place of death? Sparks, Nevada. Isn't that an odd coincidence?

You may now return to your regularly-scheduled...whatever it is you do that's more worthwhile than reading American Idol-related baseball tidbits.